Tehran, Aug. 29 (ANI): Opposition parties in Iran have urged UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to visit Tehran's political prisoners and press the current regime to improve its human rights record during the XVIth Non-Aligned Movement Summit being held here.
Ban Ki-Moon has defied calls from America and Israel to boycott the summit in Iran, which is the country's biggest international conference in three decades, and will be attended by senior officials from more than 100 nations.
According to The Guardian, the opposition is hoping to use the high-profile visits to highlight the plight of political prisoners and especially the regime's treatment of opposition leaders such as Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who have been under house arrest for more than 18 months.
"We expect the secretary general to use his status as the highest-ranking UN official to question the Iranian authorities over their treatment of Mr Mousavi, his wife and Mr Karroubi, and request a meeting with them," the report quoted Ardeshir Amir-Arjomand, a spokesman for Mousavi, as saying.
A group of Iranian academics and activists have also written a letter to Ban Ki-Moon, calling him to use his visit to highlight 'the dire conditions of human rights' in Iran and meet Mousavi and Karroubi, the report added.
"Your imminent visit to Tehran to participate in the upcoming Non-Aligned Movement conference shall provide a unique opportunity to assess the dire conditions of human rights in Iran first hand," the letter, signed by more than 400 intellectuals, read.
"In the name of humanity and the United Nations charter, [we] appeal to you to intervene for ending the deteriorating conditions of human rights, state-sponsored violence and prejudice in Iran," the letter added.
According to the report, activists have also made similar requests to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mohamed Morsi, the first Egyptian president to visit Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Ban Ki-Moon's spokesman, Martin Nesirky said that the seceratry general plnnaed to discuss the issue and added: "I can assure you the secretary general fully intends to discuss human rights with the Iranian authorities, including at the highest level."
The British foreign secretary, William Hague, recently condemned Iran's leadership for the 'continued, widespread persecution of ethnic minorities, human rights defenders and political prisoners', the report added. (ANI)
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